Behind the fund are e-commerce profiles such as Ludvig Friberg from CarpetVista, Eric Smith from Uteprodukter, Philip Lexander from Fotbutiken, Amelie Henningsson from Eqvital and Andreas Wedberg from Räckesbutiken. Also included among the investors is industry profile Erik Urnes from Lindengruppen.
Karsten Deppert, co-founder of E-commerce Park, states that the initiative has been discussed for a long time. He notes that several companies in the incubator, which recently started its tenth round, have grown to over 100 million SEK in turnover over the years. In total, the incubator's previous participating companies currently generate over 600 million SEK in turnover.
Had we had this fund in place already in year 1 when we started the e-commerce incubator, we would today have made more than 6 times the money in total - and that is a conservative estimate. Not bad for a fund, says Karsten Deppert.
Future Retail Ventures has already made its first investments. The companies that have initially received capital are Sugarbeet Co, Dryckbolaget, Mini Ferrum and Làhku Nordisk Brodyr. These companies share the common characteristic of being assessed as having good growth potential, despite operating in different e-commerce segments.
Amelie Henningsson, investor and board member of Future Retail Ventures, explains that they invest in the entrepreneurs as much as in the companies, with the aim of helping the companies develop. This perspective is supported by Felicia Johansson, business manager at E-commerce Park. She points out that founders often seek values other than just financing.
What we hear from many founders is that they don't actually seek funding. They want people to bounce ideas off, a network that opens doors and a context where they can share experiences with other entrepreneurs, says Felicia Johansson, adding that capital is not the most important thing, but the network and community.
For the companies that the fund is now investing in, access to networks and expertise is said to be a central part of the agreement. Linus Löfgren, co-founder of Sugarbeet, states that the combination of capital, experience and network allows them to grow faster and more structurally. Daniel Melander, co-founder of Mini Ferrum, agrees. He notes that the company's growth has picked up speed and that they recently exceeded a thousand orders per month.
Future Retail Ventures came in at an important stage for us and gave us both new perspectives and contacts that we have benefited greatly from along the way, for which we are very grateful, says Daniel Melander.